Exclusive | India had less red tape than China on helping Sri Lanka, says PM Ranil Wickremesinghe
Gravitas: Lankan Crisis: Wickremesinghe says China has been silent
Sri Lanka Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said that India helped the island nation way more than China while they were going through a major economic crisis. Wickremesinghe was made prime minister of Sri Lanka amid tremendous inflation and resulting protests. In an exclusive interview with Managing Editor of WION Palki Sharma, the Sri Lanka PM explained that China had a lot of red tape when it came to helping Sri Lanka and that is why they focused more on negotiations with India.
“They (China) helped in some ways, but big arrangements did not come through because we focused on India. I don't think they could get much from China and Japan during that time. It is not a fault of Colombo as we decided to focus on India because India came up with the money. And that's what we wanted. It is the question of who had less red tape,” Wickremesinghe said in the interview.
"I have been talking to other ministers from India. Will talk to PM (Narendra) Modi. Have been in touch with Finance and Foreign ministers. Have been talking to S. Jaishankar before the crisis also, when we met in Abu Dhabi, we had a long chat where I told him the crisis will come. Will talk to PM Modi and thank him," he added.
Wickremesinghe was quick to point out that the Sri Lankan government does not believe that China ditched them during tough times and made it clear that he will be speaking to China about the donor conference which is aimed towards the “Reconstruction and Development of Sri Lanka”.
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“I don't think they (China) have ditched Sri Lanka. Well, I think actually we should have negotiated with them (China) but we did not. I can't understand why we did not. We just made a request.”
“With the crisis in Sri Lanka, they (China) have been silent from few months. I don't know how much the previous government had negotiated earlier. But I intent to start talking with China. And get them to get into the donor conference. Which they have agreed to get into the donor conference and get help that way,” he said while explaining his government’s future stance towards China.
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